Mister Rogers DID NOT (Intentionally) Flip The Bird

For years there has been a single black and white photo of Mister Rogers in a cardigan and bow-tie, with a delightful smile and his head tilted slightly downwards circulating the web. Boring Pittsburgh readers have submitted this pic several times. It was ignored at first because frankly it’s old news, but more importantly because at the time it was believed by the Internets to be photoshopped – nobody knew what to make of it. Even Snopes.com and other sites swore it to be a manufactured image. All the research pointed to it being a fake. We did everything we could to dispel the myth once and for all, even blowing up the photo for examination of inconsistencies. But then, our post inspired someone to dig up the old video and upload it to YouTube and they sent it to us.

We weren’t the only ones to be duped, in fact this quote is still on the site below:

Like many well-loved public figures, Mr. Rogers was dogged by several odd rumors. Which of these is actually true? …The flipping the bird rumor has been circulating on the Internet, but the accompanying photo is fake. -funtrivia.com

As you can see, before the video of Mr. Rogers giving the middle finger, the viral photo could easily be deemed a fake. We weren’t sure whether the entire arm was added to the photo, or just part of the hand. However, If you look closely, there is a slight change in the texture of the middle finger, all the way down the hand. It turns out no changes were made because our childhood hero did indeed allow the Fuck You finger to be extended while keeping his other ones folded down.

The pic is not photoshopped at all. However, that does not mean he flipped the bird. It is a still from him singing “where is thumbkin.” If you look in the left bottom corner you can see a small boy also holding up “tall man”. Heck, there’s footage of it on YouTube. Maybe check a little before pulling out all your “evidence” of photoshopping.

http://BoringPittsburgh.com BPGH Staff

Heck, we already posted an update with a link to the video. Maybe read the full article before commenting.

Kate

Thanks for posting this. I hated seeing this picture. He was such a good soul and even though it was a joke, it just went over the line.

http://BoringPittsburgh.com Boring Pittsburgh

Thank you Kate! We really didn’t want to show the photo out of respect, but also wanted to prove to everyone that it wasn’t real. The best we could do was at least mark it with a big bold “FAKE.”

He was truly an amazing person, and most people don’t know how cool he really was. Thanks for commenting =)

http://BoringPittsburgh.com Boring Pittsburgh

Snopes and other sites were insisting that Mister Rogers didn’t flip the bird. The screenshot that was floating around the net didn’t reference any particular episode, and after playing with the picture in photoshop, it really looked like it was a fake at the time.

Since then, someone put out video evidence of Mr. Rogers so-called flipping the bird – which we put a link to above (lazy people click here).

Bethany

This picture is not a fake! Rather, the “bird flipping” is a misinterpretation. On episode #4 of the first season of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Mr. Roger sings the song “Where is Thumbkin” with some children. This screenshot is taken from the part of the song where they sing about “Tall Man”. Amazon prime has free episodes of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood if you’d like to verify this information.

Billay

Ummmm… Not fake. I just watched it with my daughter. He’s singing “where is thumbkin” song with a group of kids. The middle finger is “tall man”. He does it with both hands.

I would have to say that the most logical is the “Where is Thumbkin” explanation. To point and lines that could be caused by compression on a low res image anyway does not prove that Photoshop was used to make this image. To me this was a still that was taken out of context, and used as a joke (in poor taste)…

Way to read the post. We added two updates with links to the video you mentioned.

me

Or…maybe just remove the entire thing which is 99% false info with one minor ‘update’ link since in light of that the whole article is pointless anyway…

Or continue to leave butthurt response, your choice.

Rabid

Umm Maybe you wouldn’t get so many replies that it’s not fake if your retraction wasn’t practically in small print.

A retraction for a completely wrong article, in error, should go ABOVE the article, if not in very noticeable color and weight.

http://www.facebook.com/nickford.walker Nickford Walker

Hey guys you have the link to the wrong video. True that he is giving the finger their too (on accident) but the picture goes with this counting game video. By the way my new wallpaper is Mr. Rogers smiling and flippin the bird with a caption that reads, “Hi Neighbor!”

For crying out loud he was playing a game with children that involved the use of each of the fingers on the hand. Although I’m sure he was chuckling inwardly.

http://www.facebook.com/FLSwampYetis Leah N Joe

I believe it’s called “where is thumbkin”

Shizuppy

followed up by “in your bumhole”

Dumb Pittsburgh

Who ever writes this shit is obviously an idiot who does NO research….

http://boringpittsburgh.com/ Boring Pittsburgh

Who ever wrote this comment is obviously an idiot who reads titles and not full posts.

http://boringpittsburgh.com/ Boring Pittsburgh

This article inspired someone to go dig up the actual video and post it on YouTube. So there was some benefit from it. Thank us very much.

Thinklatits

Epic

http://boringpittsburgh.com/ Boring Pittsburgh

So should every other site that claimed it was fake. It’s not exactly something that can be researched without going back to rewatch every single Mr. Rogers tape. It would require someone to recall the instance based on seeing the actual episode. In all fairness, the title states that he did not intentionally flip the bird.

Don’t you think that it’s extremely unprofessional to allow your irritation with commenters to dictate your response? “Doubtful that you’d read other Pittsburgh related articles, so who cares what you think about them.” Have some grace and class when you’ve made a mistake, instead of taking the opportunity to insult. Also, perhaps before you say things like “you came here to see one of the nicest people in the world accidentally give the middle finger.”, you should consider that most of us are reading this article for the same reason you wrote it-to find out if our beloved neighbor was not as nice as he seemed. Not simply to find fault, but to decide whether he deserves to hold a loving spot in our hearts.

http://boringpittsburgh.com/ Boring Pittsburgh

Thanks for your input. You’re taking the trolls on this post and the responses we’ve posted way too seriously. Professionalism is not quite what we’re after within the comment section. Are you buying something from us? Are you paying for a service? No, we’re giving you something for free. Most would agree that professionalism need not apply.

PS: Nobody at Boring Pittsburgh gets irritated by the commenters here. All comments are welcome and fun to read. If you interpret “Doubtful that you’d read other Pittsburgh related articles, so who cares what you think about them” as an insult, then perhaps you might consider adjusting your sensitivity level for the internet. No insult intended, just trolling the trolls. Chillax.

Interestingly, Snopes was one of the first ones to report that Mister Rogers gave the middle finger. Convenient that they changed their report after this post was published.

Tom

Of course they did. Snopes corrected their story, like every other responsible site. You purposely lead with a false story to drive circulation. Even your “correction” is poorly written and misleading. Shame on you.

Krazy Joe

Snopes isn’t reliable. I saw them say something was false that was undeniably TRUE.

They may be right 90% of the time, but Snopes is not infallible. Heck this article even says that snopes said the image was photoshopped…and it was not.

Rick Beacham

So why not run a story that explains why his middle finger is up. It really is not the least bit funny to post garbage about someone when it is not true. Shame

Krazy Joe

There is no denying that is IS INDEED funny.

Sorry, but you’re wrong.

I was watching this very episode with my 7 year old daughter last night unaware of the ‘finger’ bit. When It came on, I couldn’t stop laughing and broke out the camera. Because it’s HILARIOUS.

I loved Fred Rogers. I also like seeing he is human, as I’m sure he would want all of us to do so amongst ourselves. He was a minister, and I heartily say he gave me more than any sermon i ever heard:
He talked quietly, correctly. He showed you can play an have fun without big or fancy toys, and that make believe is okay. Talk about leading by example!

By Jack Pierce

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